More than two years ago, the 19-year-old man from Seattle created a website to track the latest data related to the global spread of coronavirus. More than two years later, he turned his attention to the raging conflict in Ukraine.
Schiffman launched a new website called “refuge in Ukraine”, which aims to help dozens of refugees affected by the week-long Russian invasion find potential safe space in neighbouring countries and elsewhere.
“We’ve all been watching for a while. I really don’t think things will escalate to this point,” Schiffmann told geekwire by phone on Thursday. “I have no plans at all to set up a website for this.”
After a year at Harvard, Schiffman is currently on vacation when he was attending a rally in support of Ukraine in Santiago, when he thought he had the ability to contribute more effectively. He had no impression of websites run by refugee aid organizations or government entities.
On February 27, he expressed his idea on twitter, that is, to establish a website to connect Ukrainian refugees with the host of neighbouring countries. That night, he got up from bed and began to do it. Within 24 hours, he sent a message on twitter that it had been completed by 90%. Schiffman got help from his friend Marco Bernstein, a web developer at Harvard University.
“We actually worked three days in a row,” Schiffman said. “I didn’t do anything except work on the website.”
On Wednesday, it started.
The website is a public announcement designed to be as simple to use and digest as possible. Schiffman stressed that privacy and security are top priorities. The website is translated into native languages such as Ukrainian or polish according to the settings of the equipment. Owners can register to provide space, and refugees can search for the nearest owner.
“The whole purpose of the website is to connect [the host] with refugees, make this discovery possible from the beginning, and make it very easy,” Schiffmann said He added that further communication between the two sides could be promoted through services such as WhatsApp.
According to NPR, 1 million refugees have fled the Ukrainian border since the invasion. Some of the 20 million people who stayed in Washington were eventually relocated by the BBC.
Schiffman plans to start contacting Polish news media to try to spread information about his website.
If this is his 2019 coronavirus disease, then network traffic will be very important.
Schiffman founded ncov in 2019. He lived in early January 2020, when he was a junior at Mercer Island high school. At that time, there were less than 1000 confirmed cases of cv2019 coronavirus disease, which had not spread outside China.
He then attracted international attention, attracted millions of visitors and page views, and established a mainly automated website to track the total number of confirmed cases, deaths, infected countries, etc. He also set up a tracking website for the civil strife and presidential election in the United States in the summer of 2020.
“There’s always a way for you to use technology or any skill to do something great.”
“I’ve given a lot of speeches to inspire high school students, and I’ve been saying, ‘there’s always something happening in the world’.” there’s always a way for you to use technology or any skill to do something great, “Schiffman said
Schiffmann, who is associated with 2019 coronavirus disease, plans to update the website’s user interface, deal with some faults and add some new features.
“I just ignored it for a while. I was really burned out by that website,” he said. “I just didn’t expect the pandemic to last like this for two years.”
Schiffman said his main concern is how he will spend his life and what kind of platform or company he can create.
He kept asking himself, “what does it take to be a great leader? What does a great idea mean?”
If there are any signs of the past two years and his projects, Schiffman has found the answer.